Food freshener-warming device

ABSTRACT

Apparatus wherein steam is continuously circulated through a steam reservoir chamber in the device, which keeps it and an attached second chamber and head portion hot. Steam passing via an operator controlled valve from the reservoir chamber to the second chamber is dried, and the dry steam escapes through spaced orifices in a head portion to warm and freshen food items placed thereon.

united States Inventors Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee Davis Piper Tipton;

Harry I). Forse, Anderson, both 0t 1nd. 84,373

Oct. 27, 1970 Dec. 28, 1971 Food Quilr Products, Inc.

Anderson, Ind.

Continuation of application Ser. No. 49,764, June 25, 1970, nowabandoned. This application Oct. 27, 1970, Son. No. 84,373

FOOD FRESHENER-WARMING DEVICE l 1 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

ILLS. Cl 99/234 ilk, 126/33 Int. Cl A2111 15/00 Field 01 Search 99/234R,

Primary Examiner-Walter A. Scheel Assistant Examiner-Arthur 0. HendersonAttorney-Melville, Strasser, Foster & Hoffman ABSTRACT: Apparatuswherein steam is continuously circulated through a steam reservoirchamber in the device, which keeps it and an attached second chamber andhead portion hot. Steam passing via an operator controlled valve fromthe reservoir chamber to the second chamber is dried, and the dry steamescapes through spaced orifices in a head portion to warm and freshenfood items placed thereon.

i INLET STEAM PATENTED UEC'28 ml 3,530,751

sum 1 0r 3 INVENTORS DAVIS PIPER a HARRY D. FORSE MELVILLE STRASSERFOSTER 8 HOFFMAN ATTORNEY PATENTED pizza mm as 30.761

sum 2 BF 3 INVENTORS DAVIS PIPER 8 HARRY D. FORSE INLET STEAM RETURN TOBY BOILER MELVILLE STRASSER FDSTER 8 HOFFMAN ORNEY FOODFRESIIENER-WARMING DEVIQE CROSS-REFERENCE TO EARLIER APPLICATION Thisapplication is a continuation of U.S. application for patent Ser. No.49,764, filed June 25, 1970, now abandoned and entitled FOODFRESHENER-WARMING DEVICE by Davis Piper and Harry D. Forse.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the quick foodservice business wherein precooked food items, such as sandwiches andthe like, must be quickly heated for service to a customer. According tothis invention, the heating and/or freshening of food items isaccomplished by means of heat and dry steam.

Prior art efforts to utilize steam for the quick heating and/orfreshening of food items have been unsuccessful for many reasons. Firstof all, all such prior art devices include a head portion upon which thefood item is placed for heating. According to these prior art devices,the head portion is permitted to cool while not in use. Therefore, aperiod of warrnup is required to bring the head portion to the necessarytemperature for satisfactory heating and/or freshening.

In addition, all of the prior art devices contemplate a valve which, atthe control of an operator, is effective to apply steam through the headportion to a food item placed thereon. By virtue of the location of thevalve means and the coolness of the head portion itself, the devices ofthe prior art were prone to produce, at least initially, a wet steam.This wet steam, rather than freshening a product, particularly in thecase of a sandwich, would render it soggy and totally unsatisfactory forsale.

Therefore, it is the object of this invention to provide an instantsource of dry steam which when desired can be used to impinge uponand/or be circulated into the food item to be warmed and freshened.

This novel device has a particularly large application in the quickservice food business for warming and freshening already madesandwiches, buns, etc., where such items must be instantly warmed andfreshened while the customer waits, without becoming soggy and withouthaving the customer experience delay such as is involved with priordevices wherein it is necessary to exhaust a quantity of steam andmoisture before attempting to use the steam to warm and freshen the fooditem.

It is further the object of this invention to provide a head portionwhich will remain hot at all times while the device is in servicewhether or not food is being freshened by the directed dry steam.

It is still a further object of this invention to overcome the prior artproblem of steam condensing as it was conducted from the steam reservoirinto the chamber from which it is permitted to escape and warm andfreshen food items.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a means ofreheating the steam prior to use to warm and/or freshen food and forrevaporizing any entrained moisture that might possibly be in the steamas it comes from the device's steam reservoir in order to assure thatthe steam used to warm and freshen the food is absolutely dry under theprevailing use conditions.

Another objective of this invention is to provide a means whereby steamwill circulate naturally through a steam reservoir chamber of a foodfreshening-warming device to keep it and all attached components hot atall times while it is in service and at the same time provide a meansfor any condensate which may form therein to return to the boiler.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The device according to this invention includesa vessel having an internal partition effective to divide the vesselinto two separate chambers. Steam from a suitable boiler is continuouslycirculated through the first chamber, so that the entire vessel ismaintained at substantially the temperature of the steam passingtherethrough.

An internally mounted, operator controlled valve is effective to controlthe flow of steam from the first chamber into the second chamber. Steamfrom the second chamber is then applied through various apertures to afood item to be warmed or freshened.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view showing thehead portion and steam escape orifices for three devices according tothis invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along the line AA of FIG. I.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along the line BB of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along the line C-C of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view along the line D-D of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a crosssectional view along the line E-E of FIG. 4.

FIG. '7 is a cross-sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale showingone type of steam escape orifice.

FIG. 8 is a view, partly in section, showing various additional types ofsteam escape orifices.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a hotplate according to one aspectof this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The invention contemplates adevice generally indicated at 1 for warming and freshening food items,and is shown in FIG. 1 installed in a counter-top or service cabinet 2with controls 3 for use by the operator to actuate the device to utilizedry steam to warm and/or to freshen a food article as, for example,sandwiches 4 shown generally in FIG. I placed upon the head portion 5.

The device as shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 consists of a closed vessel 6having a steam reservoir or first steam chamber 7 and an upper or secondsteam chamber 8 with a solid partition 9 therebetween, separating thesechambers. The valve indicated generally at 10 is located within thesteam reservoir 7. It includes a body portion 11 that extends throughthe partition 9 to conduct steam from the reservoir 7 to the secondchamber 8 as explained hereinafter. The lower section of the bodyportion 11 is provided with a bore Ila which slidably receives the valveplunger 23 and ball 24. The O-ring or packing 26 simply prevents steamfrom bypassing the valve plunger.

The upper end of the valve body 11 is provided with one or more smallpassages 13. As shown in the drawings, two passages 13 are drilled fromthe upper end of the body portion 11 into the bore Ila. The centralportion of the valve body 11 is provided with the counterbore Illb(clearly shown in FIG. 6) which communicates with steam reservoir 7 viathe aperture 12 (FIGS. 3 and 6) which is drilled through the valve body11 transverse to its axis. Thus, communication between the steamreservoir 7 and second chamber 8 is provided via the aperture 12,counterbore lIb, past a ball 24, and through the passages 13. It will beapparent that the lowermost end of the counterbore 11b (as shown in FIG.6) serves as a valve seat 25 which is opened and closed by the ball 24.

The steam reservoir 7 is provided with a steam inlet 15 and a steamoutlet or return line 16 which are disposed in the bottom 18 of thevessel 6 in any conventional manner. It will be observed that the inlet15 has an extended end portion 17 extending above the bottom 18 a shortdistance to prevent steam entering the reservoir 7 through the inletfrom passing through or picking up any condensate which may accumulateon the inside surface of the bottom 18. By the same token, the steamoutlet or return 16 has its upper end at or below the inside surface ofthe bottom 18, so that any condensate which collects upon the bottom ofchamber 7 will drain out.

The inlet and outlet 15 and 16, respectively, will be connected to aconventional boiler supplying steam under pressure. By virtue of thisdesign, steam will automatically and naturally circulate in and throughthe reservoir 7, whether or not the upper chamber 3 and head portion 5are in use. This circulating steam under pressure will deliversufficient heat energy to overcome radiant heat losses and keep thetemperature of all components in excess of 212 F. Thus, once the unithas been brought up to temperature, it will remain at this temperatureat all times, ready for operation.

In order to utilize dry steam for food warming and/or freshening, thevalve plunger 23 is moved downwardly by any suitable actuating means.That is, the actuating shaft 22 may be connected to an electricalsolenoid, an hydraulic or pneumatic operating mechanism, or a fullymechanical linkage structure.

In any event, downward movement of the plunger 23 and ball 24 willpermit steam from the reservoir 7 to pass through the aperture 12, thecounterbore lib, past the valve seat 25. and through the passages 13into the upper steam chamber 8.

Disposed within the second chamber 8 is the heat exchanger-moisturevaporizer means 14. This is in the form of an inverted, open-endedchannel which is secured to the partition 9, and disposed over thepassages 13, so that steam injected into the second chamber 8 throughthe passages R3 impinges upon the heat exchanger-moisture vaporizer 14.It will be recognized that means 14, by virtue of its attachment to thepartition 9, will be maintained at an elevated temperature. Thus, anyentrained moisture which is released from the steam passing thereservoir 7 is reheated, revaporized and dried prior to its entering thesecond chamber 8.

The now fully dry steam enters the open area of the second chamber 8 bypassing out the open ends of the heat exchanger-moisture vaporizer l4,and is ready to be utilized for warming and/or freshening food itemsplaced upon the head portion 5.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the steam inlet15, outlet 16, and valve are all spaced apart from each other as clearlyshown in FIG. 5. This provides for a relatively long path of travel forthe recirculating steam in the reservoir 7 in order to insure evenheating of the vessel 6 and prevent insofar as possible the presence ofcondensate.

Steam from the upper chamber 8 may be applied to a food article placedon the head in a variety of conventional ways. For example, as shown inFIGS. 7 and 3, the head 5 is provided with a plurality of threadedopenings which receive various inserts. According to FIG. 7, there is aremovable insert 27 provided with an Allen head fitting 28 in its upperend. When installed, the top end of the fitting 28 is flush with the topsurface of the head 5. This insert has an appropriately sized orifice 29by means of which steam can pass from the second chamber 8 onto a fooditem placed on the head portion 5.

FIG. 8 illustrates three different sized steam eseapement needles 30which may be threaded into apertures in the head 5. Each of the inserts30 includes a needle portion provided with a cross bore 32 and a centralpassage 3K. The lock nut 33 serves to securely hold the inserts inplace.

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 show in general one method for attaching the device ofthis invention to a cabinet top 2. The head 5 is provided with anoutwardly extending flange 39 which carries on its under surface aplurality of threaded studs 34. The studs fit through mating holes inthe counter top and may be secured thereto with the conventionalfastener 35. Preferably, heat insulating washers 36 will be used on theunderside of the counter top 2, and a heat insulating sleeve or washer37 on the top side of the counter 2, so as to keep the heat loss of head5 as low as possible, and to prevent undue heating of the counter topitself.

The entire vessel 6 is preferably surrounded by suitable, conventionalinsulation 38, such as asbestos or fiber glass. This serves both tomaintain heat within the vessel, and as a safety precaution.

It is believed that operation of the device will be apparent from theforegoing description. An operator may place a food item, such as asandwich, on the head portion. By actuatin the valve 10, dry steampasses from the reservoir chamber into the second chamber 3, and then isapplied directly to the food item. This is substantially aninstantaneous operation. Sandwiches, meat slices and the like, eitherunwrapped or wrapped, may be warmed and freshened very quickly.

No limitations on this invention are to be inferred or implied from theforegoing description ofa preferred embodiment.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

I. A food freshener and/or warming device comprising:

a. a closed vessel;

b. partition means within said vessel dividing the interior thereof intofirst and second chambers;

c. means for continuously recirculating steam through said firstchamber;

d. passage means having an inlet in said first chamber and an outlet insaid second chamber; operator controlled valve means for controlling theflow of steam through said passage means from said first chamber to saidsecond chamber; and

f. aperture means for applying steam from said second chamber to a fooditem.

2. The device claimed in claim 1 wherein said valve means is disposedwithin said vessel.

3. The device claimed in claim 1 including heated means disposed in saidsecond chamber and positioned with respect to said outlet whereby steampassing through said outlet is discharged against said heated means.

4. The device claimed in claim 3 wherein said heated means comprises aninverted, open ended channel secured to said partition means.

5. The device claimed in claim 2 including heated means disposed in saidsecond chamber and positioned with respect to said outlet whereby steampassing through said outlet is discharged against said heated means.

6. The device claimed in claim 1 including external means for actuatingsaid valve means.

7. The device claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for continuouslyrecirculating steam through said first chamber includes a steam outlethaving an opening in said first chamber spaced above the bottom thereof,and a steam outlet having an opening disposed in the bottom of saidfirst chamber.

8. In an apparatus for freshening and/or warming food items including avessel having first and second steam chambers, means for supplying steamto said first chamber, and means for applying steam from said secondchamber to a food item; the improvement comprising: passage means havingan inlet in said first chamber and an outlet in said second chamber, andoperator controlled means mounted within said vessel for controlling theflow of steam from said first chamber to said second chamber.

9. The improvement claimed in claim 8 including heated means disposed insaid second chamber and positioned with respect to said outlet wherebysteam passing through said outlet is discharged against said heatedmeans.

10. In apparatus for freshening and/or warming food items including avessel having first and second chambers therein; means for supplyingsteam to said first chamber, passage means having an inlet in said firstchamber and an outlet in said second chamber for the passage of steamfrom said first chamber to said second chamber, and means for applyingsteam from said second chamber to a food item; the improvementcomprising means disposed in said second chamber and positioned withrespect to said outlet whereby steam passing through said outlet isdischarged against said means.

II. The improvement claimed in claim 10 wherein said last mentionedmeans is heated by contact with a portion of said first chamber.

2. The device claimed in claim 1 wherein said valve means is disposedwithin said vessel.
 3. The device claimed in claim 1 including heatedmeans disposed in said second chamber and positioned with respect tosaid outlet whereby steam passing through said outlet is dischargedagainst said heated means.
 4. The device claimed in claim 3 wherein saidheated means comprises an inverted, open ended channel secured to saidpartition means.
 5. The device claimed in claim 2 including heated meansdisposed in said second chamber and positioned with respect to saidoutlet whereby steam passing through said outlet is discharged againstsaid heated means.
 6. The device claimed in claim 1 including externalmeans for actuating said valve means.
 7. The device claimed in claim 1wherein said means for continuously recirculating steam through saidfirst chamber includes a steam outlet having an opening in said firstchamber spaced above the bottom thereof, and a steam outlet having anopening disposed in the bottom of said first chamber.
 8. In an apparatusfor freshening and/or warming food items including a vessel having firstand second steam chambers, means for supplying steam to said firstchamber, and means for applying steam from said second chamber to a fooditem; the improvement comprising: passage means having an inlet in saidfirst chamber and an outlet in said second chamber, and operatorcontrolled means mounted within said vessel for controlling the flow ofsteam from said first chamber to said second chamber.
 9. The improvementclaimed in claim 8 including heated means disposed in said secondchamber and positioned with respect to said outlet whereby steam passingthrough said outlet is discharged against said heated means.
 10. Inapparatus for freshening and/or warming food items including a vesselhaving first and second chambers therein; means for supplying steam tosaid first chamber, Passage means having an inlet in said first chamberand an outlet in said second chamber for the passage of steam from saidfirst chamber to said second chamber, and means for applying steam fromsaid second chamber to a food item; the improvement comprising meansdisposed in said second chamber and positioned with respect to saidoutlet whereby steam passing through said outlet is discharged againstsaid means.
 11. The improvement claimed in claim 10 wherein said lastmentioned means is heated by contact with a portion of said firstchamber.